the drummer boy ❦ Roger Taylor

14

After the intense night and morning, I wanted nothing more than a greasy fry up and my bed. So the prior is exactly what we decided to do. The six of us piled into a taxi to pick up the cars, then made our way to a local cafe.

We all slumped into a booth, Roger to my right and Mary to my left. I can imagine what sights we all looked. John, his head placed on the ketchup bottle for support; Brian, who was so hungover he forgot to put underwear on; and then there was Freddie, looking like a million dollars. He drank more than all of us combined, and was completely sober and happy. Roger, Mary and I were pretty neutral, feeling the effects but not too terribly.

"You know that saying, 'I'll never drink again'?" Brian mumbled at the table, "I mean it this time." I laughed.

"We've all said that, Brian, but I can guarantee you'll be pissed on Friday." I said. He took a minute to think, then nodded in defeat.

"Yeah, you're right." He replied.

"What can I get you-Julia?!" A voice said. I looked up, to see the waitress. Furrowing my eyebrows, I racked my brain to remember her. She was blonde, her long locks tied up in a high ponytail. She was very tall and very slim, and her she was beautiful. I quickly took note of her name badge - Rose. Immediately, a lightbulb went of in my brain. Of course, the person who was serving us was my childhood bully. The girl made my school experience a living hell. Planting a fake smile on my face, I hesitantly cleared my throat.

"Rose! Wow! I haven't seen you in a long time." I said, trying my hardest to mask the venom in my voice. She fake laughed, a high pitched, shrill thing. How did I not remember her?! Perhaps it was due to me completely blanking out my school life, due to her.

"I know! Too long! You look...different." She said, looking me up and down. By 'different' she means the fact that I had lost my puppy fat and wore clothes that fitted me now. It had been two years since I left school, since I left that bitch. "I knew that you'd look slightly better if you lost all that weight." I heard Mary gasp inaudibly beside me.

"Thanks. You haven't changed a bit." I scowled. She looked exactly the same; spiteful facial expression included. There was a moment silence, a very awkward one, including the boys looking around confused, and Mary glaring at the girl.

"Well, don't just sit there. Introduce me to your friends!" She exclaimed loudly, taking immediate attention to Roger. Of course.

"Mary, Freddie, Brian, John, Roger." I said in one breath, not caring for this conversation. Rose almost shoved her hand in Rogers face, causing him to jolt backwards. Instead of shaking her hand, he looked at it with disgust, and looked at his menu, uninterested. That's my boy. "Anyway, can you take our orders now?" She removed her hand, embarrassed from not getting attention, and grabbed her notebook.

We ordered our food; all of us going for the biggest fry up that we could get, and a cup of tea (or coffee if you're Freddie and Mary). Once Rose had written our order up, she placed her hands on her hips and looked back to me.

"Be careful, Julia, you don't want to put all that weight back on." She giggled, patting her flat tummy.

"What the fuck?" Roger said, shocked, once she had finally left. I sighed.

"Who does she think she is? I was this close to knocking her out!" Mary threatened, showing me her fingers with a tiny gap between them.

"Me too." Freddie interjected.

"I can't fucking stand that girl." I whispered, fiddling with some salt packets.

"Do you want to leave, Julia? There are lots of cafes in town." Brian suggested, already getting his bags ready. Before anyone else could join, I put my hands on the table.

"No, no. It's alright. I can handle her." I replied. They all looked hesitant, but were too tired to argue.

Whilst we waited, still reeling from the not so pleasant meeting, we moved on to various conversations about the band. As John spoke about the next gig, which would be this Saturday, I felt Rogers hand lightly rest on my knee. Looking up to him, I saw that his eyes were already on mine, grinning at me. Becoming comfortable with him, I put my hand on his, holding it lightly. I could feel him trace my hand, maybe letters, or just random squiggles. Either way, I felt tiny bolts shock through me with each touch. His soft, yet calloused skin juxtaposing with my smooth skin.

Ten minutes passed, and our food came. When Rose dropped it in front of me with a thud, some of the bean juice splattered onto my top. She let out a squeak,

"Oh! I'm so sorry, babe. I'll go get you a tissue." She fake apologised, not fooling anybody on the table. I noticed Rogers jaw clenching and unclenching, clearly trying to stay calm.

"Don't worry about it." I mumbled, starting to feel like fifteen year old me again. Weak. Mary noticed my change in tone, and stood up angrily.

"I'm sorry, but you are a complete bitch," she began, "stop acting so childish and grow the fuck up! It's not cool to be an arsehole, 'babe'." She declared, pointing her finger to Roses chest. Rose looked shocked, and she hesitantly stepped back. Then, she covered up her defeated expression, putting on a smirk.

"It's just banter. Isn't it, Jules?" She said sweetly, looking at me. And a part of me really feared her in that second. It gave me massive flashbacks to the time in year nine when she was forcing me to lay on the bathroom floor, whilst her and her friends kicked the shit out of me. When a teacher came in, she said that exact same line, and the teacher believed her.

"You know what?" Freddie said, standing up next to Mary, gripping his full plate. I could see it coming from a mile away, but Rose couldn't. With full force, he threw all of the food on the plate into her face, ketchup, eggs, toast, beans, sausages. She screamed loudly, and all of us widened our eyes in shock. "Why don't you go and fuck yourself, you unbearably irritating horse." He sassed, sauntering out of the establishment. We all quickly got up, following him, in splutters of laughter. Before I left, I chucked a few five pound notes at another employee, who stood looking just as shocked as everyone else in the cafe.

Once we all ran as far as we could from the cafe, we practically fell to the floor in laughter.

"I cannot believe you did that, Fred." I cried, using Roger as the only thing keeping me from falling over. "But, oh god, didn't she deserve it!" Everyone laughed in response. It was then that I discovered one less body that came in.

"Oh fuck, we've left John in there!"

-

Idk what this chapter even is. I wanted to add a bit of humour because I can actually imagine this all happening.

Hope you're enjoying it thus far! Any feedback would be really appreciated x